Institute for Urban and Regional Infrastructure Finance

About the Institute

Founded in 2017, the Institute for Urban and Regional Infrastructure Finance (IURIF) aims to advance research and engagement on strategic issues of infrastructure investment across urban and rural areas. It promotes and amplifies the scholarship in the Humphrey School of Public Affairs in multiple areas of expertise, including state and local public finance, infrastructure sustainability, and urban and regional affairs.

IURIF's goal is to address critical challenges we face in the collective provision of infrastructure. The challenges are both immediate and long term, across geography and beyond national boundaries. With IURIF as a platform, we will contribute to the policy discourse by:

• Demystifying the system of infrastructure finance and capital budget decisions
• Enhancing the understanding of value creation through infrastructure development
• Raising the awareness of urgent infrastructure needs and the associated consequences
• Facilitating informed decision making with data, analyses, and the exchange of ideas 
• Engaging the public and communities in collaborative knowledge building and deliberative problem solving 

Research

The research scope of IURIF includes not only physical infrastructure assets such as transportation, water, environmental facilities, and other utilities, but also social infrastructure assets that include education, public housing, and public safety.